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- Oct 2, 2012
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I always like reading about others travels to gyms and their reviews- so here's mine.
For context, I am a nearly 40 year old hobbyist brown belt.
I trained at the University of Jiu Jitsu, and 10th Planet San Diego. Really covers the BJJ spectrum.
University of Jiu Jitsu - Wednesday night BJJ Library class.
- Unfortunately, Xande was out of country and Saulo was sick. Professor Rene ran a great class though, but of course was still hoping to train with one of the brothers.
Preliminaries- the gym is TRADITIONAL. Fortunately, I grew up in traditional karate gyms so no big deal- but if you are not used to it, I could see it catching you off guard. Basic stuff- bow on and off the mat, don't go on mat to tie belt, call all black belts "professor", etc. I registered online ahead of time, and they had my info and a rental gi ready to go. I paid a 30 dollar mat fee and hit the changing area.
There are two mat areas- one main and an overflow. When they line up, it is order by rank in groups of 7. As a brown belt in wisconsin, its rare to not be one of the highest ranking guys on the mat. I was the 10th guy in line (6 black belts and 3 browns ahead of me). 10 years ago there wasn't 7 black belts in the state of wisconsin, so it was cool to see that many guys just at a class. At the beginning of class, I had to introduce myself, say where I trained, etc.
Warm ups were fairly intense - squats, mountain climbers, running in circle, etc. Lots of situps / crunches and push ups. After a day walking around the zoo in the sun, i was gassed by the end. The trend continued throughout the night.
I'm not sure if it was different than normal due to the BJJ library class, but there was a lot of drilling. They were doing take down (uchi-komi) and throwing on the last one. They'd go 40 seconds smooth (throw and switch to other guys turn for 40) then 20 seconds fast (throw and switch) then 10 seconds hard (throw and switch). Then they'd set up the next throw. We probably drilled 4 throws in this fashion.
Then some ground work- butterfly guard pass, and a side control maintenance drill. Both were taught very well- clear explanation and good insight into little details. Then they were drilled in the same fashion as the throws. I was gassed again by the end.
Finally a water break
and then to prepare for rolling. They do it a bit differently then I've seen done. First, you line up around the edge of the mat by rank. Then the highest rank picks his partner, and they line up on the mat. This continues until there are 7 groups on the main mat. Then they alternate to spread out, and everyone left goes to the over flow mat and partners on their own. As the visitor, I got picked by higher ranks each time but one. Lower belts do not ask higher ranks to roll (again, more traditional than most gyms). 7 minute rounds. The rolls was friendly but intense. Strong passing / top games, and one of the black belts just smashed my guard. I tapped more times than I typically do in a month. I gassed hard after 2 rounds, then really gassed after 4. I sat out the last one, and asked for a acai recommendations during the extra round after class bowed out. (highly recommend Ocean Cafe on Ingrahm st- the real deal and the guy who owns it trains bjj- cool dude).
Overall- everyone was extremely welcoming, and I wish I had more time to train there. Professor Rene helped with a few questions I had on a problem that came up during a roll and was very cool about it.
I'll post the 10th planet review in the next post.
For context, I am a nearly 40 year old hobbyist brown belt.
I trained at the University of Jiu Jitsu, and 10th Planet San Diego. Really covers the BJJ spectrum.
University of Jiu Jitsu - Wednesday night BJJ Library class.
- Unfortunately, Xande was out of country and Saulo was sick. Professor Rene ran a great class though, but of course was still hoping to train with one of the brothers.
Preliminaries- the gym is TRADITIONAL. Fortunately, I grew up in traditional karate gyms so no big deal- but if you are not used to it, I could see it catching you off guard. Basic stuff- bow on and off the mat, don't go on mat to tie belt, call all black belts "professor", etc. I registered online ahead of time, and they had my info and a rental gi ready to go. I paid a 30 dollar mat fee and hit the changing area.
There are two mat areas- one main and an overflow. When they line up, it is order by rank in groups of 7. As a brown belt in wisconsin, its rare to not be one of the highest ranking guys on the mat. I was the 10th guy in line (6 black belts and 3 browns ahead of me). 10 years ago there wasn't 7 black belts in the state of wisconsin, so it was cool to see that many guys just at a class. At the beginning of class, I had to introduce myself, say where I trained, etc.
Warm ups were fairly intense - squats, mountain climbers, running in circle, etc. Lots of situps / crunches and push ups. After a day walking around the zoo in the sun, i was gassed by the end. The trend continued throughout the night.
I'm not sure if it was different than normal due to the BJJ library class, but there was a lot of drilling. They were doing take down (uchi-komi) and throwing on the last one. They'd go 40 seconds smooth (throw and switch to other guys turn for 40) then 20 seconds fast (throw and switch) then 10 seconds hard (throw and switch). Then they'd set up the next throw. We probably drilled 4 throws in this fashion.
Then some ground work- butterfly guard pass, and a side control maintenance drill. Both were taught very well- clear explanation and good insight into little details. Then they were drilled in the same fashion as the throws. I was gassed again by the end.
Finally a water break
and then to prepare for rolling. They do it a bit differently then I've seen done. First, you line up around the edge of the mat by rank. Then the highest rank picks his partner, and they line up on the mat. This continues until there are 7 groups on the main mat. Then they alternate to spread out, and everyone left goes to the over flow mat and partners on their own. As the visitor, I got picked by higher ranks each time but one. Lower belts do not ask higher ranks to roll (again, more traditional than most gyms). 7 minute rounds. The rolls was friendly but intense. Strong passing / top games, and one of the black belts just smashed my guard. I tapped more times than I typically do in a month. I gassed hard after 2 rounds, then really gassed after 4. I sat out the last one, and asked for a acai recommendations during the extra round after class bowed out. (highly recommend Ocean Cafe on Ingrahm st- the real deal and the guy who owns it trains bjj- cool dude).Overall- everyone was extremely welcoming, and I wish I had more time to train there. Professor Rene helped with a few questions I had on a problem that came up during a roll and was very cool about it.
I'll post the 10th planet review in the next post.
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